date of the martyrdom is usually given as May 20, 792 A.D.

A brief mention of the occurrence is given under that date in the
"Anglo-Saxon Chronicle," and full details are recorded by later
historians, Matthew of Westminster and Roger of Wendover being the
most precise and full. The ancient Hereford Breviary preserves
further details also, for which I am indebted to my friend the Rev.
H. Housman, B.D., of Bradley.

These authorities I have followed as closely as possible, only slightly
varying the persons to whom the portents, so characteristic of the
times, occurred, and referring some--as is quite possible, without
detracting from their significance to men of that day--to natural
causes. Those who searched for the body of the king are unnamed by the
chroniclers, and I have, therefore, had no hesitation in putting the
task into the hands of the hero of the tale. The whole sequence of
events is unaltered.

Offa's own part in the removal of the hapless young king is given
entirely from the accounts of the chroniclers, and the characters
of Quendritha the queen and her accomplice Gymbert are by no means
drawn here more darkly than in their pages. The story of her voyage
and finding by Offa is from Brompton's Annals.

The first recorded landing of the Danes in Wessex, with which the
story opens, is from the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle;" the name of the
sheriff, and the account of the headstrong conduct which led to his
end, being added from Ethelwerd. The exact place of the landing is
not stated; but as it was undoubtedly near Dorchester, it may be
located at Weymouth with sufficient probability. For the reasons